English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

tchrist

1:04 AM

@RegDwigнt So sad how unaware of the life around them people can be.

George Pompidou

nur für diesen Verein

woll'n wir kämpfen und schrei'n

wir sind alle ein Stück

VFL Osnabrück

Matt E. Эллен

12:42 PM

happy lunchtime

RegDwigнt

Timely lunchhap.

tchrist

@MattE.Эллен Noonmeat?

Matt E. Эллен

afternoonmeat

tchrist

Have you ever heard these dialect forms?

> † noonmeat. Obs.
Forms: 1 nónmete; 4–5 none mete (5 nun, nvne), 6 none, noone meat(e.

Etymology: f. noon sb. + meat sb. Now represented in dial. by nammet and nummet.

A meal taken at noon, a luncheon.

A. 1000 Sal. & Sat. lix, ― On xii monðum ða scealt sillan ðinum þeowan men vii hund hlafa, and xx hlafa, buton morʒenmetum, and nonmetum.
C. 1000 Ælfric’s Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 147 ― Merenda, nonmete.
A. 1400 Gloss. in Rel. Antiq. I. 6 ― Merenda, nonemete.
1428–9 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1904) 71 ― Also payd for þe none mete on þe morwe of iij carpenters & ij plomers, a sholdere & a brist of …

nammet, nummet

Oh look, you could have it on morgenmetum too.

And we used to have merenda. Spanish still has merienda.

I should think morningmeat might risk being misunderstood, at least if said by a male. :)

RegDwigнt

Aftermeatnoon. After neat moon.

@tchrist nomnommet.

Matt E. Эллен

12:49 PM

@tchrist first time I've heard them

RegDwigнt

Nammet, Janet, I love you.

tchrist

Oh that’s right: there is no dialect at Oxford. :)

Matt E. Эллен

:p :D

Mitch

@tchrist ignores piano above suspended by rotten ropes

RegDwigнt

There's an ox, and a Ford, and that's about it.

Mitch

12:50 PM

it's not even that

RegDwigнt

it's odd that

Mitch

@tchrist Who is this Merenda that keeps showing up at lunch?

@RegDwigнt an ox like that you don't eat all at once

tchrist

> At every one of these visits there is a merenda provided for the ladies that attend the princess.

RegDwigнt

@Mitch at Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles? No, they don't eat oxen, they only kill them for fun.

tchrist

Prime bullfighters.

RegDwigнt

12:54 PM

@tchrist mere non-disclosure agreement.

tchrist

Me rindo.

Mitch

@tchrist A footman? a foot lady? a bowl of froot? a hat of fruit?

RegDwigнt

Me Ringue Starr.

Matt E. Эллен

merenda looks suspiciously like nutella

RegDwigнt

Mitch

12:55 PM

@RegDwigнt Paul McSalsa

RegDwigнt

Ringo looks suspiciously like there's no nutella.

tchrist

@MattE.Эллен Googling that pair explains why.

Matt E. Эллен

@tchrist kraftwerk

Mitch

Merenda is Greek for Nutella

tchrist

@MattE.Эллен Twangy.

You walk past a bar in Spain with a sign saying they serve meriendas: what are they advertising?

Matt E. Эллен

1:00 PM

afternoon hazelnuts?

tchrist

Chocolate con churros.

RegDwigнt

"Me rien das" is Pig French for "you don't give me anything.

No me doy nada.

Least of all, cuenta.

terdon

@Mitch It is NOT! Merenda is much better

tchrist

*butter

RegDwigнt

*buttur

The gates of Barad-Buttûr.

tchrist

1:02 PM

Gives a whole new meaning to shit on a shingle.

Mitch

@terdon Is Merenda hazelnut-chocolate spread?

tchrist

They all are.

RegDwigнt

Les nocillas de Figaro.

tchrist

Except in Wales, where they use marmite instead.

RegDwigнt

Except in Sweden, where they use dynamite instead.

tchrist

1:05 PM

That's blown all out of proportion. They only do that to make new fjords.

Matt E. Эллен

Except on the moon where they suffocate instead

Mitch

I hate to say it but there are some hazelnut chocolate spreads that are not as good as Nutella. not the right consistency, ingredient proportions just off. I'm sure Nutella could be made even better, but that's just gilding the lily.

RegDwigнt

@tchrist which brings us right back to how Oxfjord was created.

tchrist

She appreciates the finer things in life.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt What a noble idea.

Matt E. Эллен

1:06 PM

@RegDwigнt that would explain the potholes

RegDwigнt

Oxfjord was created by blowing Cambridge all out of proportion. Accidentally.

By Swedes.

Read history, children.

tchrist

@RegDwigнt Carven out by Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr.

Matt E. Эллен

write children's history

Mitch

History is wasted on the youth

tchrist

@MattE.Эллен Short stories.

RegDwigнt

1:07 PM

Very short. Just 2 compact discs.

tchrist

Be.
Very.
Afraid.

Future history?

terdon

@Mitch Yup. But it's better. Says I impartially.

RegDwigнt

I think I shall eat something tasty. If you plan to be envious, commence now.

tchrist

> Mint Pesto with Spring Peas and Roasted Asparagus and Radishes

RegDwigнt

Poor radish, what have they done upon you.

tchrist

1:11 PM

He’s been drawn, quartered, and put to the fire.

RegDwigнt

Whyever one would do such things.

tchrist

I’ve never thought of eating radishes any other way than crudely.

RegDwigнt

Earlier today I contemplated visiting McDoof tonight.

I haven't been in two years or so.

tchrist

The Scottish Play cannot be seen too often.

RegDwigнt

It's like going to a zoo. Once a year is great fun.

More often, and you start seeing things you can't unsee.

tchrist

1:14 PM

OMGIWANTTHIS: Homemade Potstickers with Three-Mushroom Filling

@RegDwigнt I cannot go to the zoo anymore.

There are perhaps one or two exceptions.

The Wildlife Park outside San Diego is one.

RegDwigнt

@tchrist for a minute I wondered if that was dough or cabbage.

tchrist

San Diego Zoo Safari Park

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park, known as the San Diego Wild Animal Park until 2010, is an 1,800 acre (730 ha) zoo in the San Pasqual Valley area of San Diego, California, near Escondido. It is one of the largest tourist attractions in San Diego County. The park houses a large array of wild and endangered animals including species from the continents of Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Australia. The park is in a semi-arid environment, and one of its most notable features is the Africa Tram which explores the expansive African exhibits. These free-range enclosures house such animals...

Something about having 1800 acres makes it less abusive.

RegDwigнt

Safari park, eh. Get to shoot the big five.

From the comfort of your SUV returning from Walmart.

tchrist

Chrome, Firefox, IE, Opera, Safari.

RegDwigнt

Do re mi sa fa ri fox.

tchrist

1:17 PM

You missed an occidental.

Mitch

@terdon a taste test! crepes at 10 paces!

RegDwigнt

@tchrist not my fault, it was too minutes two early.

I'll wait for the next one.

tchrist

@Mitch Il faut l’écrire «crèpes», comme tu sais bien.

Otherwise it’s just another creep show.

RegDwigнt

@tchrist Il faut l’écrire « crèpes », comme tu sais bien.

tchrist

Spaced that one.

RegDwigнt

1:21 PM

Thinspaced, pour être précis.

tchrist

Comme il se doit.

RegDwigнt

tchrist

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and the Monterey Bay Aquarium are two other “zoos” worth visiting. There are not many.

RegDwigнt

Holy freak, what is this horror.

tchrist

Tranny.

RegDwigнt

1:22 PM

No, Carrie.

If anything I would have suspected Matthew Broderick of trannyerism, but not his spouse.

tchrist

Now now. MB is uncommonly kind, given the world in which he moves.

Mitch

@tchrist je texte comme les autochthones. a b12

tchrist

If he wants to call that wife, that’s his prerogative.

RegDwigнt

@tchrist Now now, no need to accuse trannies of being unkind.

tchrist

Orange–blue filter, meet La Vie en Rose.

0

Q: Grammar assignment question

I am doing a grammar assignment for an English class and I am supposed to explain what is grammatically incorrect with that sentence, then offer the details on how to correct it. Thanks in advance.

grammar

dafux

No sentence, no question, no answer, no hope, no dice — nada.

Skinning animals also sounds bad, and if you try to hide it in Latin they’ll excoriate you for it.

That’s -cor- as in cuero not as in corazón, as I learned only late in life.

RegDwigнt

1:39 PM

Encueramelo.

Matt E. Эллен

tchrist

Well played.

Would that it had been an Instant.

RegDwigнt

How stupid is it for a sun god to carry a spear in one hand and a whip in the other. What body part is he holding the chariot onto with?

Matt E. Эллен

Erebos isn't the sun god (IIRC)

RegDwigнt

That's even worse. Them's two ganging up on one guy, and one of them is a fucking sun god.

tchrist

1:48 PM

The demon evaded Erebus but not Hyperion.

Matt E. Эллен

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwigнt His godly nose-hairs. He lashes them to the chariot.

tchrist

I thought Sunspear was in Dorne?

Matt E. Эллен

tchrist

Ya se entiende.

RegDwigнt

1:50 PM

Those legendary artifacts, I've not heard a single legend about them.

Impostors.

tchrist

Notice that the black is like unto a sorcery, but the white can activate in the wink of an eye: much better.

Matt E. Эллен

aye

RegDwigнt

I am noticing alright, but understanding I am not.

What is this white grammar.

Any sufficiently developed whip is indistinguishable from a spear.

tchrist

The black whip can break the speed of sound, but the white spear that of light.

We know who wins when that happens.

RegDwigнt

@tchrist oh, that's actually the "saw you the movie" guy again.

@tchrist Adam Sandler?

George Pompidou

2:21 PM

Which is correct: "I'm a stupid idiot" or "I'm a stupid idiot who smokes crack" or both?

RegDwigнt

Neither. Should be "im an stupid idiot whom smokes crack".

George Pompidou

smoke's*

get your plural forms right

Mitch

Which one is more likely? That Linda is a bank teller or that
Linda is a bank teller _and_ is active in the feminist movement?

George Pompidou

Linda? sounds more like HR to me.

probably doesn't know what the word feminism means because it's longer than four letters.

Mitch

wait... more info...

She's 31 years old, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice, and also participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations.

Now which of the two choices is more probable?

I think the important point is that she was deeply concerned. THat should tell you a lot.

Matt E. Эллен

2:35 PM

So Linda discriminated a lot?

Robusto

@Mitch So . . . once she graduated she ceased giving a fuck about social injustice?

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен She was intolerant of intolerant people.

Robusto

Hey, mods . . .

2

Q: Looking for a limerick, tongue twister or haiku

Has anyone come across a limerick, tongue twister or hai ku relating to the following words? pear, pair, pare Or does anyone want to make an attempt, something along the lines of "woodchuck chuck" or "which witch"

tongue-twisters

Get yer hook out.

Mitch

Mods know all sorts of limericks

George Pompidou

@Mitch can you please explain "majored in philosophy && very bright"

&& every subsequent thing in that sentence

Matt E. Эллен

2:39 PM

both answers are bad

George Pompidou

sings the ripping on philosophy majors is easy song

Robusto

@MattE.Эллен As are most limericks.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto two upvotes, eh. 20 reps for this.

terdon

@GeorgePompidou Yeah, cause Philosophers are so stupid. Take that idiot Socrates or that nincompoop Russel, for example.

RegDwigнt

I would take that idiot Socrates, but I am not a necrophile.

Robusto

2:44 PM

@RegDwigнt 20/2.

RegDwigнt

Three upvotes now. Yeah bring them on.

Make them max out.

@Robusto I only know 25/2.

T25/2 tank destroyer.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt People are voting with their feet.

RegDwigнt

@Mitch and then they go to meta to wonder what we could do to keep the off-topic questions down.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt They also go to meta to wonder why their limerick post got closed.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwigнt That's just what IBM would call it if they made tanks.

Mitch

2:53 PM

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 If Apple made tanks, they would call it Chartreuse. You can get it in mono-tread and that'd be Fuchsia

@Robusto takes feet over to meta

Matt E. Эллен

A man who had eaten a pear
He then found some wire to pare
He did not succeed
To fulfil his need
Of pliers he had not a pair

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

You'd only be able to buy ammo from the Apple Ammo store

Mitch

It's a long way to Limerick, but from there Tipperary is practically next door.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 and jailbreaking is a war crime

RegDwigнt

@MattE.Эллен see, I don't understand this. Apparently everyone assumes "pee-ah" somehow rhymes with "pai-ah".

This is like asking for a limerick for furry, fairy, and ferry.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt or merry, merry, and Merry

Matt E. Эллен

2:56 PM

pare, pear and pair are homophonous to me

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

A man with an overripe pear
The soft part he'd wanted to pare
He fumbled his knife
Then asked of his wife
If scissors she'd lend him a pair

RegDwigнt

@MattE.Эллен see, and that kind of nonsense is precisely why they locked you up and away on an island somewhere.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@MattE.Эллен me too

@RegDwigнt fairy and ferry are homonyms for me

RegDwigнt

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I see no difference between bears and bars.

Matt E. Эллен

@RegDwigнt I'm allowed to roam from one end of the island to the other, and across the middle.

RegDwigнt

2:58 PM

Sometimes you eat the bar, sometimes the bar eats you, dude.

Matt E. Эллен

A Greek friend of mine was telling me she can't tell the difference between bin and bean

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwigнt totally different for me. But then I knew a guy who pronounced "beer" like "bear"... he was Trinidadian

@MattE.Эллен that's like the bitch/beach question

RegDwigнt

Somehow everyone misses my point entirely.

Matt E. Эллен

@RegDwigнt is your point that you can't hear the difference between pear, pare and pair?

RegDwigнt

@MattE.Эллен no. My point is that pronunciation differs. But here's one guy who thinks it doesn't, and they get upvotes.

I don't really say pee-ah, and I don't pronounce bear as bar. I was trying to illustrate a point.

I don't pronounce fairy as furry, either.

Mitch

3:02 PM

How about lad and bad? Do they rhyme for you?

RegDwigнt

About as much as knife and wife. So not at all.

Mitch

hmm... tell me more about your family...

RegDwigнt

As an aside, just how lazy is it of everyone here to begin their limericks with "A man...".

I can begin limericks like that all day long. Show some talent.

Mitch

How about 'There was a man from St Ives'?

RegDwigнt

They found a fat pear where he lives?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

3:05 PM

@RegDwigнt Pronunciation can differ. But so what? The words still rhyme for enough people that you can make the limerick work.

RegDwigнt

Somehow everyone misses my point entirely.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

"Ninja" and "Ginger" don't rhyme for me, but they do for Tim Minchin, so he's allowed to use them as rhyming words in his song.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt da dudda da dum, da dudda da dum, and he eats celery with cream cheese and chives.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwigнt Maybe you're not writing it clearly enough

RegDwigнt

I'm writing it to the clearlies of my abilities.

Mitch

3:07 PM

@RegDwigнt Oh. So your point is that snack time is pretty soon what with all this paring pears?

RegDwigнt

I just can't quite come to terms with a world in which you can go to a site for linguists, ask for a limerick about a furry fairy on a ferry, and get three upvotes, but have not a single person point out "um, dude, you do know they don't even rhyme for everyone".

That world is quite obviously directed by Michael Bay.

Mitch

and ginger. and nutella. and rotten crabapple sauce.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwigнt It's completely unimportant that they don't rhyme for everyone.

RegDwigнt

Whatever. I give up.

Mitch

Wait... there's a question like that?

RegDwigнt

3:10 PM

Yes.

Mitch

1

A: Is /e/ a new trend for /æ/ in America?

It's not an American thing. It's a Greek thing. For the most part, /æ/ isn't used in Greek. See non-Greek vowel sounds (http://www.webtopos.gr/eng/languages/greek/gre_ipa_3.htm). Wiki says that it's used in some dialects, but I'm not familiar with them. In my Medical English courses, we were...

that's not it

RegDwigнt

Good effort, Mark. — Little Eva 28 mins ago

@LittleEva - Thanks! — Mark Bannister 28 mins ago

This site has become Facebook.

I think I'll be off for today.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt 'good for you!'

George Pompidou

@terdon jeez, chill out bub.

nobody said philosophers are stupid. nobody in fact said anything about philsophers in the first place, or about stupid. you were the first to associate the two, so that's interesting.

Mitch

3:26 PM

@GeorgePompidou I think you misunderestimate the kinds of philosophers he has to deal with. armchair philosophers for example. They're the worst.

George Pompidou

4:29 PM

the's a hole at the boot'm of te seh

George Pompidou

4:52 PM

if I didn't know my parents, I'd find it really hard to believe that some people with graduate degrees in computer science need help saving a word document to a PDF or importing music to their iTunes library.

but I don't know why. obviously the two have nothing to do with one another.

there's no saving to PDF class or thesis or anything.

it's just that… I suppose I expect an ability to… explore an interface? and make reasonable guesses as to how to solve these minuscule problems

George Pompidou

5:38 PM

@Mitch I still can't figure out what could be philosophically interesting about armchairs.

they're pretty straightforward.